Dr Anat Arzi
Kohn International Royal Society research fellow, principal investigator
Contact me if you would like to know more about my research or if you would like to be a participant in our research studies.
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I am interested in how the human brain process information in the absence of conscious awareness. In order to elucidate the common principles of processing under loss of consciousness, I use EEG, fMRI and intracranial recordings and focus on three different states: natural sleep, pharmacological induced sedation, and pathological states as disorders of consciousness. In his book “Bend sinister” Vladimir Nabokov states that “Consciousness is the only real thing in the world and the greatest mystery of all”. In my studies I hope to reveal just some of the mystery.
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In the Media
Quit smoking in your sleep, Scientific American
Smokers learn to cut down while they sleep, The Guardian
Behavioural changes seen after sleep learning: Rotten egg smell blended with cigarette smell helps smokers quit, Science Daily
Sleep your way to greater knowledge, The New Scientist
Learning during sleep, TheScientist
Study shows learning of smells and sounds in sleep, NYTimes
Smokers learn to cut down while they sleep, The Guardian
Behavioural changes seen after sleep learning: Rotten egg smell blended with cigarette smell helps smokers quit, Science Daily
Sleep your way to greater knowledge, The New Scientist
Learning during sleep, TheScientist
Study shows learning of smells and sounds in sleep, NYTimes
Current Projects
Recent finding suggest that humans can learn novel information during sleep, and that this information can modulate behaviour during wakefulness in a sleep stage-dependent manner. Specifically, new associations learned during non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep has larger and longer lasting influence on behaviour than associations learned during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. NREM sleep, unlike REM sleep, is rich in slow oscillation and these oscillations promote memory consolidation of information previously learned during wakefulness. In this research project I set out to test whether slow oscillations are also part of the mechanism underlying sleep stage dependent associative learning during sleep.
Patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) ranging from no clear signs of conscious awareness (vegetative state) to fluctuating but reproducible signs of awareness (minimal consciousness state) nevertheless have preserved autonomic function and sleep-wake cycles. Moreover, DOC patients have various degrees of preserved visual, auditory and tactile processing. Olfactory processing in DOC, however, remains unexplored.
Olfaction may be informative in DOCs because of its unique neuroanatomy and behavior. In neuroanatomy, unlike other senses, olfactory information reaches cortex without a thalamic relay. This bypass of the thalamus, a structure implicated in mediating conscious awareness, offers a unique setting for unconscious olfactory processing. In behavior, olfaction is mediated by the sniff response, an odorant-specific change in nasal airflow that provides a nonverbal implicit measure of olfactory processing. This provides for an informative behavioral measure potentially obtainable in DOCs. With this in mind, I set out to examine olfactory processing in DOC patients.
Consciousness is a central aspect of our experience of the world. The neural fingerprint of this experience, however, remains one of the least understood aspects of the human brain. No agreement has yet emerged on which aspects of brain function underlie its presence, and what changes are connected to its disappearance in the healthy brain, as well as in pathological conditions as disorders of consciousness.
In this research project I will address the question of how the human brain represents and processes information in the absence of conscious awareness. In order to elucidate the common principles of processing under loss of consciousness, I will focus on 3 states: wakefulness, sleep, and anaesthesia. In addition, by comparing conscious and unconscious processing I will aim to identify brain activations associated with conscious awareness, or in other words, aim to uncover a neural fingerprint of consciousness.
Publications
Find me on Google Scholar
Reviews
Selected Research Papers
Reviews
- Faivre, N; Arzi, A; Lunghi, C., and Salomon, R. (2017) Consciousness: more than meets the eye - A call for a multisensory study of subjective experience. Neuroscience of Consciousness.(In Press).
- Arzi, A., Sobel, N. (2011) Olfactory perception as a compass for olfactory neural maps. Trends Cogn Sci 15:537-545.
Selected Research Papers
- Wilf, M., Ramot, M., Furman-Haran, E., Arzi A., Levkovitz Y., and Malach, R. (2016). Diminished auditory responses during NREM sleep correlate with the hierarchy of language processing. Plos one.
- Perl, O.*, Arzi, A.*, Holtzman, Y., Samnon, P., Hairston, I.S., Oksenberg A., Secundo L., and Sobel, N. (2016). Odors Enhance Slow-Wave Activity in Non Rapid Eye Movement Sleep. J Neurophysiol. Feb 17:jn.01001.2015. doi: 10.1152/jn.01001.2015 * These authors contributed equally to this work.
- Snitz, K., Arzi, A., Jacobson, M., Secundo, L., Weissler, K., Yablonka, A. (2016) A cross modal performance-based measure of sensory stimuli intricacy. Plos one. Feb 3;11(2):e0147449. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147449
- Frumin, I., Perl, O., Eisen, A., Eshel, N., Heller, I., Shemesh, M., Ravia, A., Sela, L., Arzi, A., Sobel, N. (2015) A social chemosignaling function for human handshaking. Elife. Mar 3;4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.05154.
- Arzi, A., Holtzman, Y., Samnon, P., Harel, E., Sobel, N. (2014) Olfactory aversive conditioning during sleep reduces addictive behavior. J Neurosci. 34:15382-93.
- Arzi, A., Rozenkrantz, L., Holtzman, Y., Secundo, L., Sobel, N. (2014) Sniffing patterns uncover implicit memory for undetected odors. Curr Biol 24:R263-264.
- Arzi, A., Shedlesky, L., Secundo, L., Sobel, N. (2014) Mirror sniffing: humans mimic olfactory sampling behavior. Chem Senses 39:277-281.
- Arzi, A., Shedlesky, L., Ben-Shaul, M., Nasser, K., Oksenberg, A., Hairston, I.S., Sobel, N. (2012) Humans can learn new information during sleep. Nat Neurosci 15:1460-1465.
- Arzi, A., Sobel, N. (2010) Spatial perception: time tells where a smell comes from. Curr Biol 20:R563-564.
- Arzi, A. *, Sela, L.*, Green, A., Givaty, G., Dagan, Y., Sobel, N. (2010) The influence of odorants on respiratory patterns in sleep. Chem Senses 35:31-40. * These authors contributed equally to this work.
- Soddu, A., Boly, M., Nir, Y., Noirhomme, Q., Vanhaudenhuyse, A., Demertzi, A., Arzi, A., Ovadia, S., Stanziano, M., Papa, M., Laureys, S., Malach, R. (2009) Reaching across the abyss: recent advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging and their potential relevance to disorders of consciousness. Prog Brain Res 177:261-274.
- Lefler, Y.*, Arzi, A.*, Reiner, K.*, Sukhotinsky, I., Devor, M. (2008) Bulbospinal neurons of the rat rostromedial medulla are highly collateralized. J Comp Neurol 506:960-978. * The first three authors contributed equally to this work
Awards
2016 – EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship.
2015 – The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award.
2015 – The Royal Society Kohn International Fellowship.
2015 – Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship.
2015 – Blavatnik Postdoctoral Fellowship.
2015 – National Postdoctoral Award for Advancing Women in Science.
2015 – The John F. Kennedy PhD Distinction Prize.
2010 – Best poster award, Human Chemosensation, Dresden, Germany.
2009 – FGS prize for outstanding M.Sc students, Weizmann Institute of Science
2005 – Dean's prize for outstanding B.Sc students, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
2015 – The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award.
2015 – The Royal Society Kohn International Fellowship.
2015 – Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship.
2015 – Blavatnik Postdoctoral Fellowship.
2015 – National Postdoctoral Award for Advancing Women in Science.
2015 – The John F. Kennedy PhD Distinction Prize.
2010 – Best poster award, Human Chemosensation, Dresden, Germany.
2009 – FGS prize for outstanding M.Sc students, Weizmann Institute of Science
2005 – Dean's prize for outstanding B.Sc students, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.